We Are
by WannaBet2
Summary: Laxus considers his friendship with Freed, wondering how it all started. How did this shy, odd, stupidly co-dependent kid become his most trusted companion and the leader of his team? Laxus and Freed centric, but also featuring Ever and Bixlow. Friendship only, no slash at all. Characters may be slightly OC.


**Alright everyone, here's a new fanfiction for you! I wrote this because of the shortage of Freed FRIENDSHIP stories. So if you like this story, do me a favor and write your own friendship story. I'm going nuts shifting through all the stupid romances.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. If I owned Fairy Tail, it might just be centered around Freed. However, I did come up with Black Grace. I think it was a cool idea. Also, fair warning, the characters might be a bit OC. Enjoy the story!**

I've never been quite sure when we became friends.

Maybe it was from the very beginning, when we would end up sitting at the same table a lot. Because the other ones were all full. No one wanted to sit with you and I didn't want to sit with anyone, so we ended up with each others silent company. You were short. A kid, then, and I was a moody teenager. But honestly, I didn't notice a lot about you, other than your height and your green hair and your endless supplies of books.

Maybe we became friends when I first started talking to you, when I walked over and our table was covered in books, papers and quills while you leant over it, looking frustrated and covering your ears against the noise of the guild. I walked up and demanded that you move your stuff away from my side of the table and you looked at me like I was an idiot until I shouted at you, and then you sprang up so quickly that I was surprised you didn't get dizzy and swept up your books without a word. After that, I began to talk to you, but you never really talked back. Sometimes you blushed and sometimes you ducked your head, but you still didn't say anything and I began to wonder whether or not you could talk at all.

Or maybe, we started to be friends the first time you actually spoke to me, when I found you sitting in the corner of the guild dorms, crying into your hands. I hoisted you to your feet and told you to toughen up, and you nodded and scrubbed at your eyes, looking incredibly upset.

"Alright," I had said. "What happened? Did someone hit you or something?" Regularly in the guild, that would've been normal. But I knew that you probably wouldn't be used to that sort of violence. Or maybe you were way too used to it. But either way, I knew that was why you covered your ears when everyone got to loud, and flinched when flying debris or wrestling people got too close. Really, I wasn't even expecting you to answer. I was eighty five percent certain that you were mute.

But you shook your head jerkily and said: "No, I'm fine," in a small voice that I had to strain to hear properly. "It's just... Nothing. I'm sorry."

After that, I started noticing you when you weren't right in front of me. I started to see how you walked with your head down, how no one ever really talked to you, and how you were always by yourself. You were the only one living in the boys dormitory at the guild, and you often were in the library or in corners, half hidden by the darkness and your long, green hair. It must've been a lonely life.

And so I made it a point to sit with you more, to draw attention to you in the corner. I even went to the library just so that you could have some company as you pulled out tome after tome, writing runes on papers and covering your hands with ink. You started talking to me more, and I learned some things about you.

You used to belong to a dark guild. As the son of a very powerful member, you were branded and used at a very young age. I had heard of this guild, an extremely hard-core and radical guild that was all about demons, dark magic, and demanding nothing less than perfection from its members. You didn't fit the bill and they kicked you out after a while. With no where to go, you spent some time on the streets and eventually found Fairy Tail. The methods of the guild – called Black Grace – certainly explained certain things, though I found it hard to picture you in all your quiet, scholarly ways in such an evil, wild guild.

Black Grace's mark was a black bird with large wings, and was bigger than many other guild's marks. When I commented on your apparent lack of bird-like marks, you gestured to your back and said: "Father removed it."

Like it was that easy to turn your back on your own member. On your own kin. It was no wonder you didn't ever feel like talking, back then.

Still, I'm not sure that was the time. I was angry on your behalf, yeah. I pitied you, but I don't think I was your friend. Maybe not then.  
>Maybe it was when I first saw you fight. Both of us were a little older at this point. The guild was filling with more vagabonds and lost little kids, looking for somewhere to stay, looking for adventure. You were getting taller, you hair was getting longer, and your silences were getting shorter. Though you certainly weren't talkative, I didn't feel like I was pulling teeth trying to drag every word out of you.<p>

But at the time in question, I was walking in the streets when I saw you, a little ahead of me and struggling to carry three heavy looking bags and a pile of books stacked up to your chin. As I watched, someone in the crowd bumped into you and you dropped everything. I rolled my eyes and walked forward, hoisting the bags into my own arms and picking up some books.

They really weren't heavy at all. You were a string bean, but you were not muscled in the least. I had seen you take a couple of jobs, but I had never seen you take a higher one or leave with another person to do one and I had wondered about that. But it really figured. Your intelligence would undoubtedly be useful in battle, and I wasn't sure what kind of magic you even had, but I was sure that you were no fighter.

And then, while you were still blushing and straightening the pages of your books, a mage ran into the street, laughing and wielding two swords. The mage cut through a cart, narrowly missing a towns-person, and then lit up his swords with some kind of shadowy thing. He was yelling something about wanting Fairy Tail and pedestrians were running away, screaming.

"Stay back," I ordered, thrusting my arm out to still you, as you had stepped forward. "Let me."

"No," you said, grasping my arm and looking at me, your eyes serious. "That's my father, Laxus."

I was too shocked to protest as you walked calmly and straightly towards the man, who looked at you with contempt. The man did look a little like you, the more I looked at him. His hair was brown and his eyes were gray, but he had the same eyelashes, and his hair was longer like yours.

However, your father was big, muscled, and a full two heads taller than you. The swords glinted evilly with the black light and I really didn't like the look in his eyes as he watched you. Like he was waiting for you to fall sobbing at his feet.

"So," your father said. "This is my beloved son. You have grown quite a bit. How old are you now?"

"Thirteen," You stated, voice deadly quiet. That tone of voice usually even had me retreating, but your father only sneered.

"I've come to take you home," he said. "Right away. You always had powerful magic, and we've come to the decision that you will be strong enough for proper training now. You won't be the Little Monster anymore. I will make you strong."

You lowered your head, balling your hands up into fists in anger. "Little Monster," you repeated. "Do you remember why they called me that, Father? Do you remember how you would try and make me better, having me fight all the stronger wizards who laughed at me and threw things at me all the time? Do you remember how long it took to bring me down?" You looked up, one eye blazing with purple and black. "Do you remember how many _I_ could bring down before you exhausted me enough to get me pinned so you could beat me?"

Your father smiled. "Oh, but dearest son," he said in a sickly sweet voice. "Don't you remember your screams? Your begging for mercy? Don't you remember all those hard-earned lessons, that your life is mine that I can do as I please? That you should thank me for your very breath? For the fact that I took the time to try and teach you, instead of letting you stay as the inexcusable, sniveling weakling that you were and are?"

I walked closer, furious that this man would say such things to you. Furious that he had ever raised a hand against you. Sure, I thought you cried too easily and couldn't really fight and you could be annoying, but this man was your _father_ and he should've taken care of you. Not humiliated you.

"You take that back!" I demanded.

"Oh, and who is this?" Your father said, his voice welcoming. "A friend of yours, Little Monster? Of course though, I forget that you do not have friends. You may have managed to convince yourself that he is, due to your rather active imagination. How many times must I tell you that friends are for better people than you."

"Leave me alone," You said, your own voice starting to shake. "You can have no need for me in Black Grace, surely, so just leave me alone!"

"We're giving you another chance, Freed," Your father proclaimed. "You can come and be with me, your father, and I will teach you how to be strong again. You should be begging me for such a chance."

"He said to leave him alone," I growled. You head was down, and I couldn't help but feel like the water works were about to commence. I hated it when you cried. It was kind of pathetic and I never knew what to do about it.

"You have no part in this," your father said, looking at me with boredom and disdain. "Don't think I don't know about you, Laxus Dreyar. You are nothing more than a stupid brat."

Your head snapped up. "What?" You said, whispering now. "What did you say, Father?"

The dark mage looked a little startled. "He's just a brat," he said. "A stupid, ridiculous brat who's only real accomplishment is having Makarov as a grandfather. So do you see, now? Leave this puny guild and come be with those that wish to improve you and make you into something."

"I will give you one chance," You said, drawing yourself into a battle pose. "To take back what you have wrongfully said about this man!"

Both I and your father blinked at you for a second. I was very shocked, and a little embarrassed, that _you_ were getting defense of _me_. It seemed really backwards. Plus, I was certain that if you fought this man, you would lose.

"You have three seconds," you said calmly. "One... Two... Three!"

And then, suddenly, you and your father were fighting. You were lunging at him, he was dodging. He was swiping through the air with his sword, you were dodging. You were fast. Really fast, and as you fought, you spoke, shouting words and drawing runes with your hands. And then, you had one of his swords, and you used it with expert skill that I would've thought impossible. And before I could even think of joining in to help you, your father was on the ground, and you were standing over him, panting and tired looking and still grasping the sword.

That's when the water works started. You held a hand to your eyes, looking furious at yourself for that weakness. And I came to my senses at the sight. Calling the authorities (who were just arriving, per the norm) to come get your dad, I picked up your bags and books and then put my hand on your shoulder.

"Toughen up," I told you, wishing I could come up with something else to say. And you nodded, like the first time you spoke to me, and pulled yourself together admirably.

You kept the sword, with one choice adjustment, and worked to improve your rune magic. Actually talking my ear off about Jistsu magic or something as we sat in the guild. Was that it? Maybe. Maybe not, though. I mean, I liked you at that point. I thought you were a good fighter and that's even when I invited you to be a team with me. But were we friends? Really?

Perhaps it was when we first met Bixlow on one of our missions. He seemed insane to me, and I thought his flying dollies were stupid, but he seemed to get along with you. Bixlow followed us around on the whole mission and got us out of a couple of tight spots. He didn't belong to a guild, he had some seriously powerful magic, and I was considering telling him that he could probably come to Fairy Tail.

It was weird though, because Bixlow made you smile. When he did silly things, or when his tongue hung out of his mouth, or when he teased you or ruffled your hair, you would give him these little smiles. For some unfathomable reason, this annoyed me. It was just odd. In all the time that I'd known you, I had only got a smile out of you a handful of times, and here was this random stranger who was effortlessly earning them. It wasn't like I didn't want you to be happy, and it wasn't like I didn't think you and Bixlow should be friends. If anything, you needed a couple of friends and maybe it would give me some breathing room if you had somebody else to follow around.

Because the tables had kind of turned at that point. In the beginning, I was the one who was sort of seeking you out. Trying to integrate you into the guild and stuff. But soon after the incident with your father, you would approach me, follow me to the training grounds, or walk with me into the town. It was tiresome and I protested regularly that I needed some space, but when you were finally focused on something else – sitting in our hotel room and laughing as Bixlow nudged your shoulder – I felt...

...Jealous. Not romantically. No, never. It was disgusting to think that. It was more like, a part of me thought of you as being _mine_. After all, I was the one who talked to you, who took care of you, who actually took the time to put up with first your shyness, then your blubbering, then your sudden bursts of blathering about things that I couldn't care less about, and then your clinginess. You weren't comfortable around anyone else. You tended to hide behind me, counting on me to answer for you. You thought I was something special.

And I must've had some stupid insecurities that I didn't know about, because I kind of thought that all that would change if you started hanging around this wild, boisterous man.

Still, Bixlow joined Fairy Tail, and then he joined us. It was actually your suggestion, and I couldn't refuse when the man was standing right behind you, beaming at me. And you still followed me around, hanging onto my every word. Only Bixlow came with you and sat at our table, making it doubly annoying.

Maybe that was when I started thinking of you as my friend. Or maybe it was just possessive. I had never really had someone so devoted to me before, someone who just liked me for me. Of course I would start feeling like you belonged to me when you acted like it. And of course I wouldn't really want that to go away, because that sort of connection and faithfulness was great to have in battle and in a teammate.

So if it wasn't then, when? Maybe when Evergreen came into the picture, all glasses and flirty laughter, and we had our first real fight. At first, you didn't want her to be in our team at all. You didn't like what she did to the dynamic, and I didn't appreciate your attitude or what I perceived as you trying to undermine my authority. We both sort of lost it. Well, I lost it first, but you started things and then you yelled just as loudly as I did. Everyone in the guild heard the fight and we were both just lucky that Evergreen had already gone home.

The fight ended when I screamed that if you didn't want to obey me, you could leave, and you turned on your heel and ran from the guild. I suspected that you were crying, but I pushed aside the twinge of regret and stormed off myself. I had no clue why you were so upset, and I didn't understand what you had against Ever. In my opinion, she was a great kid. A little younger than your now fifteen year old self and nice and strong, with some actual independence and an ability to speak her mind. Sure, maybe she was a little high maintenance, but if you were willing to put in the work...

After a couple hours of sulking and justifying, I started to feel bad. You cried too easily. You cried at a lot of things and I always sighed and straightened your shoulders and told you to stop being a wimp, but _I_ had never made you cry. And I had shouted at you. Of course, I had shouted at you before, several times, in fact. I could never keep my temper well and you bore the brunt of the explosions, but there had never been much actual malice or meaning behind the shouting. This time I was actually angry. I actually meant to wound you with my words.

I felt more than bad. I felt terrible. But I just didn't _get_ it? What was _with_ you?

"Laxus, stop pouting," Ever said, sitting next to me at the bar and flipping her shoulder length curls. She was fourteen and already, other guild members were turning to look at her. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the bar as Bixlow sat next to Evergreen, his tongue hanging out of his mouth again. For some reason, the picture looked incomplete.

"Seriously, just go make up with him," Ever continued. When I looked at her, a little shocked, she scoffed. "Bix told me everything. And I think you're both being stupid. The solution is obvious anyway."

"What?" I said blankly. "It's not 'obvious.' I don't know why Freed is upset."

"You only threatened to throw him off the team," Ever scoffed.

"Laxus," Bixlow sighed, hissing my name a little. "I don't think you really get it. Remember Freed's dad? And his old guild? He's been shoved out of places before for a lot less than showing some attitude and citing his opinion." His dolls echoed 'opinion' a couple of times.

"Plus, he's obviously jealous," Ever stated.

"Jealous?" I snorted. "Jealous of what?"

Both Ever and Bixlow looked at me like I was painfully thick. And then they exchanged a glance like they had to confirm that notion with each other.

"You've been spending a lot of time with me," Ever said. "Not that I'm complaining, but a lot of people have been swarming me since I entered the guild, and you've definitely put more time into me than they have. Freed is probably feeling like I'm stealing all of your time, and all of your patience, as you never had much to begin with."

"Yeah, plus, Ever is a new member," Bixlow added. "Freed suggested me, and I was more his friend in the beginning than yours. His position with you was never put into question. But with Evergreen, you liked her and decided she should join. That makes Freed question where he stands, and where he's going to stand in the future."

"That's why he didn't want me to join the team," Ever said. "Because he's not sure how much things will change. He thinks you like me more than him, and he's just going to get shoved to the side and ignored."

"Or worse," Bixlow said, his voice going uncharacteristically dark. "Singled out as 'bad.' He's been waiting for a repeat of his time in Black Grace this whole time, if my feelings are correct, and he's insecure due to that anxiety."

I blinked at them. It seemed a bit far fetched, but... It did kind of make sense. That was the first time you had ever said something that wasn't in complete agreement with what I was saying, and I hadn't exactly reacted well. My threat had been impulsive, only formed to hurt you feelings, and I hadn't really been thinking. Like, that it might actually, really hurt you. I didn't like that, the fact that I had hurt you.

And I knew how you felt, about being uncertain. After all, I was unsure of my position in the guild everyday, thinking that people only liked me because of my grandfather. And of course, I got your jealousy, because... hadn't _I_ been jealous of Bixlow taking up _your_ time? Hadn't I felt like things would change, and you wouldn't be the same with me as you always were?

The idea that, as I was possessive of you, you were possessive of me was kind of weird, and it gave me a kind of creepy feeling. Like... some kind of weird kinship and understanding that I didn't want to have. After all, I wasn't yours. That was... odd, to think. But... weren't you sort of mine? Didn't you kind of belong to me?

Why then, couldn't it go both ways? Except...

"He's still acting stupid," I told Bixlow and Evergreen. "I'm not sure how to fix it, either."

"Do I have to do everything?" Evergreen groaned. "Go talk to him! Make him feel like you still care about him, and assure him that he's no about to be left out because the team is getting bigger. Make him feel wanted."

That was when you became the captain of the Thunder God Tribe. Of course, when I first came and found you at you and Bixlow's apartment it was more than awkward. You were apologetic and submissive, and I was straining for the right words and some sudden burst of sensitivity, but I managed to get out that I wanted you to be captain and get along with Ever because she was gonna be under your command as you were under mine. And you brought your head up, blushing, and asked me to repeat myself like it was impossible to believe.

But you seemed happy with the title, and went to great lengths to meet the expectations that went along with that name, despite the fact that I had never given you a list of expectations. You came up with the name. Just saying.

Perhaps that first fight was really when you became my friend.

Or maybe it was after the Battle of Fairy Tail, when I came to my senses, finally, and winded up going to the infirmary where you, beaten badly by Mirajane, were staying. It had been a couple of years since you had stopped being a gangly teen and started being a gangly young man. However, you looked very similar to a child when I came through the door. You were sitting cross-legged on your bed, hair pooling on the bed-covers thanks to its length, and you looked up at me with wide eyes from behind that fringe.

"I'm sorry, Laxus," you had said. "I couldn't beat Mirajane... and –and then I just couldn't let you... you had to see your grandfather, and I..." You took a deep breath and lowered your head again, your shoulders trembling in a familiar way. "I'm sorry. I'm already packed and I'll leave in the morning."

"Oh no," I said, my heart sinking as you scrubbed at your eyes. "Freed, you seriously need to pull yourself together. I'm sick of you blubbering about everything. Really, you think after all these years-" I stopped then, trailing off and watching as your head lowered even lower in shame and you whispered another apology. That had been the wrong thing to say.

Your self esteem had always been low, I knew that. All I had been trying to do all these years was help you be stronger, but maybe I hadn't been helping at all. Especially lately, with my vendetta against the weaker fairies. I had disregarded your feelings again and again, talking all the time about those who brought shame onto Fairy Tail that needed to get better... How many times was I going to remind myself of your father? How many times was I going to hurt you in order to learn my lessons?

"LAXUS!"

It was Freed and Evergreen, bursting into the hospital room, arms laden with stuffed animals and flowers and faces furious.

"Laxus, you can't kick out Freed!" Ever screamed at me. "He's got nowhere to go! He did nothing wrong! You're being a pig!"

"If he leaves, I leave!" Bixlow shouted. "This wasn't his idea! He did his best, and it's _your_ fault because you told him to waste his energy on those stupid barriers so that he lost to the Demon in the first place!"

"Your fault, your fault!" Your dolls said.

"I'll leave too," Ever proclaimed.

"No, please," You said, standing and shaking your head at the two. "You two have to stay and take care of him. I just can't... I couldn't be good enough and now I'll face that. It's all my fault that we lost."

"I lost too!" Ever said. "So did Bixlow. Laxus, you can't do this to him!"

"Yeah." Bixlow nodded his head in agreement. "Freed has been nothing but loyal to you from the get-go!"

I gritted my teeth because the three of you doubted me that much. Of course, I could kind of understood you feeling that way, but how could Ever and Bixlow think that I would just abandon you? Didn't they understand?

"He's not going anywhere," I said fiercely, my anger getting to me. "Not when I have anything to say about."

"W-what?" You said shakily, looking at me with hopeful, baby blue eyes. "You mean you're not... mad?"

"Not really," I sighed. "I mean, I'm mad that you guys are all being stupid, but I'm not mad about the fight or about anything else. In fact..."

I stopped for a second, as I had always been bad with words and emotions and stuff. But I had to be for once, because you were looking at me in confusion and Ever and Bixlow were both still frowning like I would go back on my word and kick you out.  
>"<em>I'm<em> sorry," I said, sitting down on the edge of your bed. "I've treated you all horribly. Especially... Especially you, Freed. Bixlow and Ever are right. You've always been loyal to me and I shouldn't have, um, used that. And I'm not gonna kick you out, either. You're my comrade, my captain. You're even, ahem, my family."

You're eyes swam with tears, but you're face split into the widest, happiest smile I had ever seen on your face. When I smiled back a little, you launched yourself at me, throwing your arms around me and burying your head in my shoulder.  
>I winced, unused to this kind of affection and contact, but I didn't tell you to pull it together like I usually did. When I turned to Evergreen, she was crying as well, and Bixlow's chin was shaking in a way that made me think he had lost it as well, although I couldn't see his eyes. They both rushed forward and enveloped me in more hugs. I grimaced under their holds and yours. After all, just because I actually managed to say something worthwhile for once, you three shouldn't get away with anything like this.<p>

"Alright, alright," I grumbled. "Stop being so cheesy and let me go."

So was that it, then? When I vowed to stop being so callous about your feelings and told you that you were family? Was that when we became friends?

It may have been, really. Or it could've been one of those other, earlier moments, and I just never thought about it. Or we could've always been friends, even when you were a little boy in Black Grace getting mocked and beat and I was a grouchy pre-teen, stomping around the guild and acting too old for my age. Maybe we were always destined for this friendship. This deep running understanding that you would be annoying and I would be unbearable, but we needed each other and we cared about one another. It's stupid to think that sort of thing, but I honestly think that might be it. I don't know what I would do without you around. When I wasn't in Fairy Tail, I felt all three of my teams absences, but none more so than yours. You're my dearest friend.

So no, I'm not sure when we became friends. But I know that we are.

Your hair was pulled into a ponytail like you hadn't worn it in ages, and your bangs were falling in your face. You were still wearing your cooking apron, the fight had hit you so suddenly. It was supposed to be a simple mission, one so tragically easy that it was practically a vacation, but you had all been attacked while I was running an errand, and the fight was hopeless.

After all, we were breathing in crippling toxins. How could one fight that? But I couldn't let you all die. I couldn't let anyone die, not this time.

"Laxus!" You shouted, your arm covering your mouth. "Close your mouth!"

But I had to do something. I couldn't let them suffer. I couldn't let you be hurt. Thinking of that stuck-up brat, Natsu, I opened my mouth and made use of the special, dragon-slayer power. I began to consume the toxic illness.

"Dragon slayers have special lungs," I noted out loud. "I'll suck this all up."

"Don't do it..." You said desperately. "Stop..."

I looked at you, smiling as I thought of how much I trusted you, how much I was willing to give to make you smile. Since the start, when I sat with you. Since I talked to you, since you talked to me. I thought about how I had used to follow you into the library, how I was actually interested in what you had to say. I thought about seeing you fight your father, realizing you were strong and simultaneously realizing how much you needed someone around to take care of you. And I thought about my jealousy when you laughed with Bixlow, and your jealousy when I hung around Evergreen, and how much I had hurt you yet you adored me still. And I adored you. You were my little brother, my whiney, clingy, overly-affectionate little brother that I wouldn't have any other way.

You were my friend. You were my family.

"Take everyone home," I told you, taking deep, taxing breath as I felt my energy start to leave me. "That's your job."

"LAXUS!" You screamed, running forward as I fell. I never hit the ground, you caught me before I could and pulled me back up with several pained breaths. Then you bent down a little, hoisting Ever onto your back and pulling Bixlow and Yajima up with your free arm.

You started walking then, slowly and falteringly, carrying three different people whilst being wounded yourself and inhaling the toxins rather rapidly. I found myself slightly awed. You always managed to exceed the limitations that I decided you had.

I blacked out, safe in the knowledge that you would take care of everything.

**End.**

**So there you have it. I hoped you liked the story, and please contribute by favoriting, reviewing or writing a friendship story of your own. It doesn't even have to be about Freed, as long as it's friendship. It doesn't have to be long. It can be nine hundred words! As long as it's friendship! I'm dying here! XD**

**Signing off until next time!**

**WannaBet2**


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